Friday, February 12, 2010

Book Club is a great way to find out about new books and to read and discuss them among friends. This is how the Book Club works, our members have suggested titles they are interested in reading and the group picks from these titles.We read one a month and then meet for a potluck dinner to discuss the book. Our discussions are informal, there are no presentations. The group also trades copies of books they don't necessarily want to receive back. Everyone is welcome!

Our February book will be "The History of the Siege of Lisbon" by Portuguese author Jose Saramago, published in 1989 (in translation in 1996) and our meeting is going to be held on February 24. Saramago, born in Portugal in 1922, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1998.

The protagonist of this story is Raimundo Silva, an innocuous bachelor who has chosen the safe occupation of proof reader at a distinguished publishing house. One day he inexplicably takes it upon himself to alter a key word in a history text. His alteration leads him into an affair of the heart that changes the course of European history. Around a seemingly minor incident José Saramago has constructed one of his most ambitious, sweeping novels to date: a broad, multifaceted tableau involving meditations on historiography, the uses and abuses of language, and the life under authoritarian rule. This rollicking love story is a delight.

"The Book of Negroes" by Canadian author Lawrence Hill, 2007 will be our March pick. Remember to order your copies in time to read them!